The present invention relates to a method and system for updating an information state.
Organisations are increasingly using the Internet to offer their services and to utilise the services of others.
However, even though the Internet provides tremendous potential for allowing parties to interact it can prove difficult, when using the Internet, to provide assurances that parties to an agreement are acting in a trusted manner.
In particular, the provision of services require that all associated parties mutually agree certain conditions, where a party needs confidence that once a condition has been agreed another party can not repudiate what has already been agreed.
One solution to this problem has been the use of trusted third parties, where each party to an agreement interacts with a trusted third party, thereby allowing the trusted third party to maintain a master copy of an information state that defines the terms agreed between the parties and, as such, prevent the repudiation by any party of any of the agreed terms.
However, due to the nature of the relationship with a trusted third party such relationships can take a long time to establish.
It is desirable to improve this situation.